BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved by a wide margin a security pact with the United States that lets American troops stay in Iraq for three more years.

The vote in favor of the pact was backed by the ruling coalition's Shiite and Kurdish blocs as well as the largest Sunni Arab bloc, which had demanded concessions for supporting the deal.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to have won the comfortable majority that he sought in order to give the agreement additional legitimacy.

Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said an "overwhelming majority" of the lawmakers who attended the session voted in favor of the pact by a show of hands. The parliament's secretariat, which counted lawmakers as they entered the chamber, said 220 out of 275 legislators attended.